Christmas at Pemberley
by timewarpp
Summary: LBD! fic. The last thing Lizzie wanted was to spend Christmas with Darcy.
1. Chapter 1

Lizzie knows she has made a huge mistake of driving when all the weather forecasts had predicted it was going to rain. Well it's raining all right. In fact, it's raining pretty damn hard. It's like a freaking hurricane outside. That ordinarily wouldn't be too bad except for the fact that now, of all times, her old jeep decides to break down. Awesome. Her jeep had been a graduation present from high school and it has never failed her before up until now.

Lizzie pulls over to the side of the road and internally screams. Great, just what she needed. She doesn't know the first thing about cars but she decides, against her better judgment, to get out of her car and inspect the damage. Even without opening anything, she sees smoke coming from the car's hood. She's steadily becoming more and more soaked by the minute without the slightest clue on how to fix presumably her engine.

She's about to go inside the car and call triple A when she sees out of the corner of her eye a car pulling up. Teeth chattering, she walks cautiously a little bit closer to the car because hey, it could be a serial killer or something. The car's window rolls down and she sees a kindly elderly couple sitting in the front seats. Still a bit cautious, Lizzy manages relaxes a little bit. If it came to trouble, she could easily overpower them but she seriously doubts that will be the case since they look so fragile. The man who is sitting in the driver's seat says something but she can't hear it.

"What?" She yells through the rain.

"I said, you look like you could use a ride," the man repeats louder this time.

Lizzie bites her lip. "Where I'm going is still pretty far away and I don't want to impose."

The woman considers this and says, "How about this. We'll take you to the house that we work at and from there you can dry off and use our phone."

"Are you sure? You don't have to really."

The woman rolls her eyes. "I'm sure. Now get into the car before you freeze to death."

Lizzie looks back at her car and after a moment's hesitation, she opens the door and slides in the backseat.

"Thank you so, so much," she says genuinely. "You really didn't have to."

The elderly man chuckles. "No problem. It's always a pleasure to help out people in need."

The woman interjects, "So now that we've saved you, you might as well tell us your name." She winks at Lizzy.

"Oh!" Lizzie flushes a little bit. "Um... I'm Lizzie Bennet. I was on my way to visit my sister Jane in Los Angeles. It was supposed to be a surprise."

The woman nods. "I see. Well my husband here is John and I'm Susan. We're housekeepers for a local rich man whose house we're going to."

"Which rich man is that?" Lizzie asks politely.

"Mr. Darcy. William Darcy. He's the heir of a massive entertainment empire," John replies.

"Darcy?" Lizzie practically yells.

Susan gives Lizzie a strange look. "Do you know him, dear?"

Lizzie regains her composure and slinks down in the seat. "Yeah," she mutters. "I know him."


	2. Chapter 2

When they finally get to Pemberley, (ugh, who even names their houses anyways?) Lizzie is overwhelmed by how massive Darcy's property is. It looks like it extends for several miles. Pemberley is easily something that looks like it came right out of a movie or book. Lizzie internally sighs. She really hopes that Darcy isn't home right now.

John pulls up the car by the front entrance and the three of them run inside without getting too wet. It's still pouring and it does not look like it is going to stop anytime soon. When they get inside, Lizzie takes in the sheer magnitude of Pemberley. It is even more beautiful inside than it is on the outside. It is definitely Victorian-era inspired but has some modern touches that don't make it look outdated. Whoever designed the house, Lizzie thinks, really did a great job.

"Welcome to Pemberley, Lizzie." John says, panting. "Can we take your coat?"

Lizzie nods and complies.

"Um... is by any chance Darcy here?"

John shakes his head. "I'm afraid Mr. Darcy is quite often too busy to come here that often. He's away doing something in Los Angeles with his sister, Gigi."

Lizzie feels a sense of relief that Darcy isn't here but also, strangely, a bit disappointed as well. It's ridiculous, Lizzie tells herself, you should be glad that Darcy isn't here. Even though he was not to blame for Wickham, he still meddled needlessly with Jane and Bing Lee, something which Lizzie could not forgive. It was a good thing that Darcy wasn't here after all.

After she hands John her rain-soaked coat, the three of them go into the kitchen.

"There's the phone that you can use," Susan says. "You're free to stay here for as long as it takes to fix your car."

Lizzie smiles. "Thank you." She takes the phone in her hand and begins to dial the number for Triple A.

"I have a serious question for you," John says solemnly.

"Okay?"

"How do you feel... about hot chocolate?"

Lizzie rolls her eyes good naturedly. "I would love some, thanks."

After being on hold for what it seems like forever, Lizzie finally gets to talk to a human. Unfortunately, the employee tells her, the storm is too bad and they have completely overextended themselves. There is no one available to help her at the moment. She will have to wait until the next day. Lizzie thanks the operator and hangs up the phone.

Susan hands her a mug full of hot chocolate which Lizzie takes gratefully.

"So, what did they say?" John asks.

Lizzie sits down on one of the chairs by the table and sighs. "They don't have anyone to help me out tonight. I have to wait until tomorrow." She takes a sip of her hot chocolate and unsurprisingly, it is delicious.

John nods. "That's alright then. You can stay in one of the guest bedrooms."

Lizzie nods. "Thank you. You guys have been really great to me. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

Susan and John wave it off. "Don't worry about it."

They chatted for another hour or so. Lizzie found out that Susan and John had been married for over thirty years, had two full grown children, and had always worked for the Darcy's.

"Mr. Darcy and his father have always been exceedingly kind towards us," John tells Lizzie. Susan nodded in affirmation.

"They even paid for our kids' college education," Susan adds.

Apparently they had known Darcy ever since he was born.

"He was such a sweet kid," Susan says wistfully. "Always quiet and polite even back then. He did have his mischievous streak though."

John chuckles. "That's right. He used to refuse to wear anything that weren't overalls for a while."

Susan shakes her head. "He was always stubborn, that kid."

As Lizzie listened to these stories, she felt quite strange on the inside. All these months, she had always assumed the worst about Darcy. However, listening to Susan and John talk about him, it seemed that the opposite was true. Darcy appeared to be kind and caring towards others, if a bit standoffish at times, particularly towards his sister, Gigi. He seemed to genuinely love his sister which reminded her of her relationship with Jane. Lizzie felt a little bit guilty now but she reminded herself of what Darcy had done to Jane and Bing. He had never truly apologized for his actions in his letter.

Lizzie tries to hide her yawn but it does not go unnoticed by Susan.

"Time for bed," Susan says not unkindly. Lizzie decides not to argue. Susan shows her one of the guest rooms where Lizzie can sleep. Lizzie falls asleep almost the instant she hits the bed. Her last thought before losing consciousness was that maybe, just maybe, Darcy wasn't so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Lizzie is rudely awakened by the sunlight glaring in her eyes. She sits up in her bed and sleepily rubs her eyes. She checks the clock on the desk and is startled to see that it is already 10:30 in the morning. She hasn't slept in that late in what it seems like ages. Looking around the room, she is reminded that she isn't in her bedroom back at home but actually at Pemberley. She internally groans. She did not want to be reminded of Darcy this early (or late?) in the morning.

Unwillingly, Lizzie gets out of bed (what? it's a soft bed) and sees that clothes have been laid out on the chair by the desk. There's a note on top of the clothes and it reads "LIZZIE- CLOTHES ARE GIGI'S. FEEL FREE TO WEAR. -S&J." Lizzie smiles. Susan and John's kindness is apparently boundless. She doesn't know how she will ever repay them for everything they have done for her. She changes out of her clothes and slips into Gigi's which fit her surprisingly well. They're a tiny bit bigger than her regular clothes which makes Lizzie assume that Gigi has inherited Darcy's tall genes.

Yawning, Lizzie walks down the stairs.

"-been busy in Los Angeles and oh, Lizzie?"

Lizzie freezes. No, no, no, no, no. That voice can only belong to-

"What are you doing here?" He looks the same as ever, his face contorted into a bewildered expression. He is wearing jeans with a rain overcoat and surprisingly sports a newsie hat.

Yep, she's officially trapped in a nightmare. Just her luck that Darcy would be here.

"Hi Darcy," she says awkwardly while doing a slight half-hearted wave.

"Oh, Darcy," Susan rushes out. "We found Lizzie on the side of the road yesterday so we invited her to stay the night."

Darcy still stares at Lizzie with an indecipherable expression on his face. Lizzie rubs her neck awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"Yeah, my car broke down. These guys were total life savers. I hope you don't mind me crashing here."

Darcy shakes his head. "Not at all," he says with such absolute sincerity that Lizzie feels almost... touched? She can't quite explain it. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you wish."

Susan gives John a look and the two of them discreetly sneak away. Lizzie doesn't miss the smirks on their faces. She flushes and hopes that Darcy doesn't see.

Lizzie shifts her body weight to her other leg and leans against the stair railing. "Thanks but I'm actually planning to leave in a few minutes. I just wanted to say goodbye to Susan and John first.

Darcy replies, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Lizzie frowns. "What do you mean?"

Darcy shakes his head. Why does he look so cute when he does that? Lizzie thinks before mentally slapping herself. Focus, Lizzie, focus. "The roads are still pretty horrendous and some sections of the freeway have been closed down. Plus, there's the fact that it is currently snowing outside."

Lizzie's jaw opens. "It's snowing outside?" she practically screeches. She runs down the stairs and rushes pass Darcy to look outside of the windows and sees that it is indeed in fact snowing outside. "It never snows here in California."

"Apparently, this year it does." Darcy says from behind her.

"So much for global warming," Lizzie mutters. Darcy apparently has ninja hearing and chuckles. Lizzie turns around and crosses her arms.

"Looks like I'm stuck here for the time being," she sighs.

"So it appears that way. Well, I guess you will be spending Christmas with us tonight." Darcy smiles a little. "I do hope it won't be too boring and odious for your liking. Robots are not well accustomed to how normal humans celebrate Christmas."

Lizzie quirks up an eyebrow. "Did you just make a joke?"

Darcy shrugs and monotones, "It took awhile but my inner machinations have adapted to understand humor."

Lizzie only shakes her head in wonderment. Darcy is just full of surprises today.

"Would you like a tour of the house?" Darcy asks.

Lizzie shrugs. Why not?

"Come on then." Darcy gestures for her to follow him up the stairs. Lizzie reluctantly follows him. The house is absolutely massive, not that she didn't already know that before. The guest room was the room closest to the stairs so she hadn't gotten a chance to see the other rooms in the hallway that seemed to stretch on forever.

"This is Gigi's room," Darcy gestures with his hand. Lizzie peaks in her head and peers at the room. It's incredibly neat (no doubt the housekeepers had something to do with that) but it somehow exudes personality. There are posters up everywhere of different bands and a line of trophies on top of the shelves. She sees pictures of a young girl who she assumes is Gigi and a younger Darcy. The pictures range from when the two of them were little kids until the present day. Gigi appears to be a very attractive young woman based off the photos. She has dark hair like Darcy but has softer features so her eyes aren't quite as hard. Gigi is smiling widely in nearly every photo and Darcy is smiling his strange half smile. They both looked happy, she realizes. Darcy in the pictures actually looks somewhat human and not, well, a robot.

"Do you like the pictures?" Darcy asks, breaking Lizzie out of her thoughts. She nods. "Did you see the picture of me and Gigi in overalls?" Now that Lizzie had to see. Darcy points to a picture and Lizzie immediately spots it. It is literally one of the cutest things she has ever seen. A smug younger Darcy with an equally younger Gigi clad in tattered blue overalls. In the picture, Darcy is also sporting a straw hat on top of his head.

Lizzie bursts out laughing. "Inspired by Tom Sawyer much?

Darcy laughs lightly. "Without the whole tricking people into painting my fence, yes."

Lizzie suddenly realizes something. "Hey, where is Gigi anyways? Why wouldn't she be spending Christmas with you?"

Darcy sighs. "For the same reason you're stuck here I'm afraid. She attends college on the other side of the country and the weather has gotten so bad that all of the flights have been delayed."

Lizzie leans against the door hinge so she's properly facing Darcy. She quirks up an eyebrow. "Oh? Which school?"

"She goes to Sarah Lawrence."

Lizzie lets out a low whistle. "Wow, that's an impressive school."

Darcy nods. "Gigi is a smart girl. I must admit she's much smarter than me."

Lizzie nods, accepting Darcy's words as she has never meet Gigi.

"What about your room? Don't I get to see it too?"

Darcy awkwardly looks away. "I'm afraid it isn't terribly exciting. Wouldn't you rather do something else?"

His behavior only increases Lizzie's curiosity rather than satiating it. She shifts her weight away from the door hinge and lightly pushes Darcy.

"C'mon DarcyBot. I want to see where you recharge your batteries."

Darcy flushes a little but complies.

"Oh very well."

They walk a few steps before Darcy stops and stiffly opens the door. "My room," he adds rather unnecessarily.

Lizzie walks in and finds that she likes it. It's simple and the walls are pretty bare. There's not much else other than a bookshelf and a desk with his laptop on top. His bed is on the opposite side of the room where the sheets had been neatly folded. The room didn't have much stuff to look at. However, it had a certain charm to it that she couldn't really explain. It did fit in with Darcy's personality. He wasn't the sort of person who had a bunch of unnecessary possessions.

"I like it," Lizzie accidentally says out loud without thinking.

"I'm glad," Darcy replies.

Lizzie jumps a little. She hadn't realized that Darcy had walked up so close to her without her realizing it. Lizzie suddenly feels really nervous. Darcy is staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

All of a sudden, the power goes out.

* * *

Could use a beta if anyone is interested.


	4. The End

Hey guys. I know I haven't updated in a while and I am sorry for that. I had written out an extra long chapter as a reward for waiting so patiently but then the lbd shitstorm of 2013 happened (as some people are calling it). I'm really annoyed how the whole situation played out and think that the cast & crew didn't handle it very well. As a result, I'm withdrawing myself from the fandom. I'll still watch LBD but I have lost major respect for the creators.

-Laura


End file.
